Football: Spring practice finishes

North Texas has undergone what seemed like an endless series of
changes since the end of last season. Todd Dodge

Mike Canales arrived to take over UNT's offense, Conroy Hines
came on as wide receivers coach and Riley Dodge was dropped from
the race to start at quarterback due to injuries

And that doesn't even count what happened on the field through a
month's worth of practices.

UNT finally reached the finish line on Thursday, and couldn't
have been happier with the results, despite encountering a few
bumps along the way.

"I was really pleased," UNT head coach Todd Dodge said. "We have
grown so much as a football team and have so much more competition
and care on this team about the 2010 season. It's like night and
day from any point that I have been here. It's a great
feeling."

The fact that Dodge feels confident in the Mean Green's
prospects next season was due in large part to the way Nathan Tune
and Derek Thompson handled the quarterback battle. Both were thrust
into the forefront of the battle for the starting job next season
when Riley Dodge was unable to recover from a series of injuries
that sapped his arm strength.

The sophomore moved to wide receiver, which left UNT with little
experience at quarterback yet again heading into next season.

Riley Dodge was a first-year starter in 2009.

What made the situation even more complicated was the arrival of
Canales from South Florida. Canales spoke when he took the job
about how Riley Dodge fit his system that features a mobile
quarterback.

UNT had to adjust its plans with Tune and Thompson, but was
happy with its progress any way.

Canales stuck with the spread look the Mean Green has used
throughout the Todd Dodge era and added several wrinkles. UNT used
tight ends and put receivers and running backs in motion more than
it had in the past.

"The different number of looks we will use offensively will keep
defenses off balance," Tune said. "The amount of motion we will use
will help us. Defenses won't be able to press our wide receivers at
the line when they are in motion."

There was a lot to learn for all of UNT's offensive players. The
more the Mean Green worked on the adjustments it is making heading
into next season, the more comfortable UNT's players became.

"Spring went real well," UNT running back Lance Dunbar said. "We
have been executing well at the end of spring practice. We learned
a lot."

UNT didn't have as much to learn defensively, but felt like it
made significant progress under coordinator Gary DeLoach. The Mean
Green returns most of its key players from last season's team that
dropped the number of points it allowed per game 12 points over the
previous season.

UNT felt like it has the chance to make a similar improvement
after spring practice. The Mean Green finished with seven sacks in
its spring game and will add several key players to its lineup next
season.

Starting cornerback Royce Hill will return from injury over the
summer, when a number of key junior college recruits will arrive on
campus.

"We didn't lose much on defense and have a lot of guys
returning," UNT defensive end Brandon Akpunku said. "We are hungry
and ready to win."

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is
bvito@dentonrc.com .

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